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UPDATE. River Styx published “High Water” in Issue 89. Many thanks! [As of 1/23/2017, the archives page at River Styx is not working. For now, see my story in full here.]

Including plenty to drink. I was 100% idea-free most of the day, and so went visiting in my idea file for help. I found a snippet I wrote about the river that ran behind the house I grew up in. A nice bit but one I have been unable to use. So… use it, I said to myself. I dropped it into a Word file and began free-associating. I wrote seven (there’s that number again) paragraphs about other water-related memories and finally, finally, one caught. As it turns out, I didn’t use that first bit, but it was the way to today’s shorty.

Working Title: High Water1st Sentence: The water brought quiet, heaviness, a strained peace.Favorite Sentence: He is Moses, his lime-green truck will split the Red Sea, all our worry, our polite, whispered, pretty-please, no-thank-you worry, is for nothing.Word Length: 468

Photo by Des Blenkinsopp of floods near Newells Pond in the U.K., 2/2010.

Claire Guyton

can't thank the Maine Arts Commission enough for granting her their 2012 literary fellowship, which she used to launch Daily Shorty. Claire writes, edits, coaches other writers, and blogs in Lewiston, where she stays sane by working on her scraggly yard, running 5Ks as slowly as possible, perfecting cracker recipes, and playing badminton. She spends the remainder of her free time with her sweet husband and perfect cats. You can contact Claire at dailyshorty@gmail.com.